As much as she wanted the passion and pleasure his kisses promised, she couldn’t give in if it meant losing him…losing his help. He was simply amazing and would not be easily replaced as either an employee or a friend. The way he had so effortlessly helped ease her fears over the care her mother was receiving at the nursing home, the way Addie absolutely adored him… Right now, Kayla needed those things from him more than she needed sex—or at least just as much.
“Then what happens afterward?” she asked. “I don’t want awkwardness, you know?”
“I’ll be around when you need me. All you have to do is call. The date tomorrow night is nonnegotiable, though, regardless of what happens tonight. You already promised me that.” He caught the side of her neck and broke the last of her resistance with a kiss that had her contemplating if there was enough room in the cab of his truck so she could take him where he sat.
When he finally released her mouth his breathing was ragged, which only ramped up her own level of excitement. “I share an apartment with Ian and Seth, so your place or a hotel?” he asked.
“Addie’s gone all weekend, but she can’t know about this. Promise me, Ronnie,” she said, pulling herself up onto the seat so she was eye level and almost facing him.
“It’s your place to tell her, not mine. Whatever you think is best.”
His kisses were like lukewarm water over the ice around her heart. He’d melted her resistance to his advances. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back as a way of telling him how much she wanted him, with everything in her, even as she worried about losing the part of him she already had—his friendship.
She finally released him and sat back, even though her body burned for him. But sanity had returned. She didn’t want to lose his friendship, or ruin the friendship Addie was developing with him, or lose his much needed help in her life.
He stared at her, moving his gaze between her eyes and her mouth.
“I’ll follow you home if you want. If not, then I still get my date tomorrow,” he said when she remained silent.
“Let’s wait and see how things go tomorrow,” she said, unable to meet his intense gaze for fear she would throw all sanity to the wind and seek more of the pleasure in his kiss.
He kissed her temple and said, “I thought so. I’ll be here when you are ready, but I’ll see you tomorrow night for sure. If you change your mind about tonight…all you have to do is call.”
With that, he opened his door, climbed out and helped her to her car. After opening her door, allowing her to get inside and then closing it, he walked back to his truck and waited for her to leave first. When she watched his headlights turn off onto another road in her rearview mirror, she felt so disappointed. Monday would mark his fourth week working for her, yet it felt like she’d known him forever. She enjoyed his company. And his kisses.
She made it home, ran herself a bubble bath and poured herself a glass of wine. Just as she was about to step into the steaming tub, her cell phone rang. Sighing, she headed back into her bedroom and grabbed it off her nightstand. Seeing Ronnie’s name as the caller, she answered as she made her way back into the bathroom.
“Tell me you aren’t working and I’ll leave you alone,” he said as she stepped into the mound of fragrance-filled bubbles.
She managed to sit down in the steaming water after several gasps at the shocking temperature and the pleasure of the indulgence. “No…not working,” she said, managing to situate her neck pillow with one hand without dropping the phone or sloshing the water too much.
Finally settled, she was able to focus on the silence filtering through the phone. “Are you still there, Ronnie?”
“Yeah. You’re taking that bubble bath you talked about, aren’t you?” he choked out.
“Yes. I’m not working, I swear,” she said.
She could hear several sharp intakes of breath come through the phone and finally he said, “Does it feel good, Kayla?”
Five carefully chosen words in his sexy, low-toned southern drawl and she was as effectively turned on as when he had kissed her. “Mmm-hmm.”
“Ask me to and I’ll come over and wash every delicious inch of you,” he offered.
“I don’t want to mess things up. Life is good now that you’re here and I’m afraid being with you romantically will ruin all that. I just can’t risk it,” she managed to say, even though every part of her wanted to beg him to come over as quickly as possible.
“I’m a big boy. If you decide being with me is a one-time deal, I can take the rejection. I will be your friend and I will help you out whenever you need me so you don’t need to worry about risking anything. If this is really just a polite way of saying you’re not interested, though, then can I at least ask a favor?”
Casual sex had never been one of her strong suits. Being intimate with someone always led to romantic feelings on her part, at least if her past was any indicator. Could she go into this knowing sleeping with Ronnie wasn’t the next step in a relationship? Knowing it was sex for the sake of sex?
The idea would have held water if not for the fact that she already liked Ronnie, as a friend and potentially more….
“What’s the favor?” she asked.
“Touch yourself…and let me hear you enjoying it,” he said quietly.
She closed her eyes. The silence only created more tension between them. She attempted to relax down into the water, but the desire in his voice and his explicit words were too much to take.
“Ronnie, I can’t do that…with you listening,” she whispered.
“You deserve pleasure, Kayla. I have a key to your house. I can come over and touch you myself or you can do it. I want to hear your voice, one way or the other. I missed it this past week. I know that sounds a little crazy but I called on Wednesday because I couldn’t go another day without hearing your voice,” he said.
“Do you swear this thing between us won’t change what we’ve got?” she asked. “Addie really looks up to you, and if I screwed that up for her…I’d never forgive myself.”
“You’re the boss. You tell me how things work between us. I’ll just keep doing what you hired me to do and wait for you to tell me what, if any, additional services you need from me,” he said. She could just picture that grin.
“I’m serious, Ronnie,” she said.
“So am I. You hire people to care for your mother and you hired me to help take care of your house and Addie, but who takes care of you, Kayla?” he asked in a serious tone. “I’m offering to take care of you in whatever way you need me to, for free, if you’ll just let me.”
Please, please don’t let this be a mistake.
“How long will it take you to get here?” she asked breathlessly.
“I’m already on my way. Stay right where you are…exactly as you are,” he ordered and disconnected the call.
Waiting for him conjured up a mix of emotions. Those feelings included one part anxiety, one part desire and one part anticipation. As a bigger girl, she’d always felt like she had to settle for men with equal physical flaws or personality imperfections. Ronnie had neither of those issues. From what she had seen, his body was the stuff from magazines and his personality was made to fit hers perfectly.
Just as she finished up her glass of wine she heard him at the door of her master bathroom. “Kayla, are you still where I told you to be?” he asked through the door.
“Yes,” she replied. Her heart was going to beat out of her chest. He was seconds away from seeing her in all her naked glory. All of it.
Swallowing, she looked toward the door as she heard his footsteps approach. What if he took a look at her, discovered she was bigger than he’d thought and changed his mind? Nervousness caused a fluttering of anxiety to filter through her.
He knocked then turned the knob and opened the door. His gaze met hers and then took in what he could of the rest of her body around the mountain of bubbles. He leaned against the doorframe and just stared at her until the scru
tiny got to her.
“What?” she asked self-consciously.
“My mind has conjured up images of your body since the very first day I walked into your office. I knew it wouldn’t disappoint. Move the bubbles away…let me see you,” he said.
The intensity of his gaze forced her to swipe her arm across the surface of the water to create a window to what lay beneath and then wouldn’t allow her to look away until his eyes left hers to see what she’d revealed. He continued to peruse her body while he walked over to the edge of her garden tub. He kicked his boots off and then pulled his shirt over his head revealing a chiseled chest like a warrior of old.
“God help me, Kayla. Your body was made for sex,” he said on a sigh. Kneeling down at the edge of the tub so that even facing her he could see most of her body, his eyes spoke of his appreciation.
Was he serious? He looked like the sculpture of a god, while she looked more like the real-life version of Betty Boop.
“I’m overweight,” she blurted out. Well done…draw more attention to the fact.
“No, you are curvy and…perfect. Some men may like skin over bones but I personally prefer to be up against something with a little give. Someone I can enjoy. And you are that for sure…like a fantasy. Your breasts and hips are gorgeous,” he said.
His eyes finally met hers again. He put his hand in the water and touched her thigh then slid his fingers up to grip her hip. He continued on to the very core of her, which already burned for his touch. He watched her every expression as his fingers began an erotic brand of torture.
A fantasy was pretty accurate. He was the stuff of dreams between his blazing blue eyes, his beautiful chest and arms and his touch, which was so intense it nearly brought her to tears.
“Slide down and lie back against your pillow and close your eyes,” he said. “I can keep this up for as long as it takes so don’t even try to fake with me, Kayla. This isn’t about anything but feeling your body submitting to my touch and the pleasure I can give you.”
Knowing her attempts to look sexy had failed because his touch threatened to make her come undone, she managed to scoot down. When she settled back against the tub and the pillow, his fingers resumed their exploration for a brief moment as he perused the length of her body. His gaze stopped on her feet then came back to meet her eyes.
His fingers stopped their insatiable rhythm. He slid his hand down the inside of her thigh, gripped the knee of the leg farthest from him, raised it out of the water and rested it across her other bent leg. Then he captured her foot between his large hands. He rubbed it in such a way that shivers of desire shot up her legs to replace the pleasure of his fingers with an equally wonderful sensation. She watched as he leaned in close to her foot until she could feel his breath on her ankle. Surely, he didn’t mean to…
“Ronnie, what are you doing?” she choked out.
“I like everything I see and I plan to enjoy myself…indulge in all of the things I’ve fantasized about doing to you since last weekend when you kissed me. I swear I think I’ve been hard all week. You can bring a man to his knees with kisses like that, Kayla. Now if you don’t want to see the extent of my perversion where you are concerned, close your eyes. But don’t stop me. Please,” he finished with a groan.
He gripped her ankle with one hand and rested his elbow on the edge of the tub while holding her leg up a little higher. Then, as he stared her in the eye with that grin of his that did funny things to the backs of her legs, he leaned forward and placed an open-mouthed kiss on the arch of her foot. The noise that escaped her only brought another grin from him and then another open-mouthed kiss that ended with a slight nip and then a sucking motion.
“Ronnie, please,” she whispered as her hands left the water to grip both sides of the tub.
Sliding his free hand back to her overly sensitive center, he said, “You like this, don’t you? I can tell because when I do this,” he said and placed another open-mouthed kiss on the arch of her foot, “I can feel your body’s reaction to it…right here.” He rubbed her hardened nub.
Then he proceeded to repeat the process again and again. The two equally fantastic sensations suddenly had her tension releasing in such a way that her whole body began to shake. Shock waves of passion and pleasure traveled out in all directions at once and left her crying out with each spasm. When she was able to get her breathing under some control and open her eyes again she found him watching her face with that amazing grin of his.
Releasing her ankle and placing it gently back in the water, he stood up and held his hand out to her. “Time for bed, Kayla,” he said.
She was amazed that her legs, which now felt like rubber, were able to stand up, hold her weight and then step out of the tub. Using a bath towel, he rubbed her dry, creating a whole new set of sensations.
Let me bathe you and put you to bed tonight, Kayla.
If he thought he was seriously just going to put her to bed and leave her body weeping and begging for more, he was crazy. She watched as he pulled the stopper out of the drain. When he straightened, she captured his face in her hands.
“Make love to me, Ronnie,” she whispered, kissing him and wrapping her arms around his thick neck to lock him in place. He was warm and smelled like the rugged outdoors…like one big adventure.
Then his hand was in her hair, pulling her head to his as his other hand on her hip guided her backward to the vanity cabinet. His hands cupped her naked bottom and lifted her up onto the countertop, forcing her to release her grip on his neck and hold herself on the edge as he pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. He pulled out a condom and tossed his wallet aside as he tore the wrapper open with his teeth. She managed to hold herself up while she unzipped his pants and pushed them down.
“You make me crazy from wanting you so bad,” he ground out as he rolled the condom down his length and rubbed himself against her. Reaching between their bodies, she guided him to her entrance and gasped as he pushed forward.
He felt wonderful. He grabbed hold of her thighs and began moving. Using her hands on the countertop behind her, she braced herself as the intense pleasure returned. Her head fell back. He kissed her collarbone and leaned his forehead against her shoulder as he drove her over the edge of sanity with hard powerful thrusts.
“Tell me if I hurt you. You feel amazing,” he said against the side of her neck as he continued his merciless attack on every nerve in her body.
Her entire body moved backward with the force of his thrusts. “Oh, God, Ronnie… Pleasure… More,” she begged.
His rough hands maneuvered her around a bit, forcing her to recline a little more. Then, once again, he slammed into her. She hissed between every stroke; he touched a spot deep within her that made her want to climb out of her own skin due to the intense pleasure. A cold sweat broke out on her skin and her entire lower body clenched in spasms at the bursts of ecstasy that swept across her like a storm.
“Yeah, that, Kayla, that… Umm,” he growled, and then groaned loudly. After a few more powerful thrusts, he stopped moving and buried his face against her neck. The only sound was their heavy breathing.
He finally pulled back from her and captured her mouth in a forceful kiss. “Let me catch my breath. I want to do that again and again. Damn, Kayla, you are burning me alive with all that fire and passion.”
He pulled out and away from her and helped her down off the counter to stand on shaky legs. After disposing of the condom he turned on the shower and stepped under the spray without even waiting for it to warm up. “Give me a second to rinse off and you can have the shower, it should be warm by then. If you get in here with me we’ll never make it out of this bathroom,” he said.
His brand of sex was the kind from magazines, movies and books. It was completely unfamiliar and phenomenal all at the same time. She still felt it all through her body but managed to slowly walk over to the closet and get a towel for him.
“I have a towel for you….”
The shower door opened. He pushed the towel out of her hand and onto the floor then pulled her by the hand into the water that was just beginning to heat up.
“I changed my mind. I do want you in here with me…at least for a minute,” he said, covering her mouth with his own. He kissed her breathless and then stared at her for a long moment before stepping out of the shower and closing the door behind himself.
She could hear him wrestling around, pulling on his jeans as she showered. Was he going to leave? Just like that?
“Take your time in there, I need to refuel. I’ll be right back,” he said.
After the shower, she wrapped up in a robe, blow-dried her hair and pep talked herself into going to look for Ronnie. It was after midnight and she should have been exhausted, but between the power nap and the amazing sex she felt pretty good. Stepping into her room, she again found no traces of him, so she headed downstairs to the kitchen and found him leaning against one of the cabinets eating a sandwich. He looked incredible wearing only jeans that hung low on his hips.
All the worry over the awkward “moment after” flew out the window when her eyes finally made it up to his and he grinned his teasing grin.
“Hungry? I can make you a sandwich if you would like…unless you see something else you’d rather have.”
Chapter Eight
Ronnie’s hopes of finding a replacement cheerleading advisor were looking slimmer with each passing week. Football season was officially over now at Addie’s school, and he had tried in vain to bow out of being the cheer advisor at that point. Somehow two weeks had turned into four and then into six. The cheeky kid would have none of his attempts to quit, though, and between her and Kaitlyn they had convinced him to stay on for the tri-county cheer competition.
His only requirement was that he remain anonymous. Very few adults knew he’d coached the girls during football season; most just thought he helped them determine which cheers to do at the right times. At least that was all Kayla knew.
He made Addie and Kaitlyn swear that they wouldn’t breathe a word of it to anyone they didn’t actually have to. He just kept encouraging the team to look for another advisor; how much longer he could keep up the charade he wasn’t sure.
Maid to Fit Page 10
